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Below 9%

A drop in the jobless rate, but more people flee the labor force.

December 5, 2011

An 8.6% unemployment rate is hardly worth celebrating, but after nearly two years of mediocre job growth and unemployment at 9% or above, yesterday's November jobs report feels like a bigger improvement than it is. Private sector job growth of 140,000 was respectable but still less than half the 300,000 or so monthly job creation that is typically associated with expansions. The September and October payrolls were revised upward by 72,000 jobs, also signs that the economy has bounced back from the growth slump earlier in the year.